Personality and Individual Differences Flashcards
What are the four most common theories of personality?
1) Psychodynamic
2) Humanistic
3) Cognitive-social
4) Trait theories
Personality refers to…
Enduring patterns of thought, feelings, motivation and behaviour that are expressed by a person in different circumstances.
What is the main concept of humanistic theory?
The focus upon humans as subjects rather than objects and emphasises the innate self-actualising tendency.
What is self-actualisation?
The full realization of one’s creative, intellectual, or social potential.
What is self concept?
An organised pattern of thoughts and perceptions about oneself.
Ideal self is…
A person’s view of what they should be like.
Cognitive-social theories are developed from…
1) Behaviourist roots - with an emphasis on learning rather than instinct.
2) Cognitive roots - with an emphasis on more rational thoughts such as beliefs and expectations of self, others and the external world.
Strengths of cognitive-social theories include:
i) Testable through experimentation with minimal subjectivity
ii) Accounts for learning in adulthood
Weaknesses of cognitive-social theories include:
i) Emphasises the rational and not emotional, motivational or irrational.
ii) Can assume that people know what they want, feel and think.
What are traits?
Descriptions of the characteristics of a person (e.g shyness, friendliness, honesty).
Two important trait theories are:
1) Eysenck’s Theory
2) Five factor model
Eysenk’c theory suggests…
Personality can be grouped into three types and measured on a scale:
i) Extroversion - Introversion
ii) Neuroticism - stability
iii) Psychoticism - impulse control
The five factor model suggests there are five ‘superordinate’ personality traits (‘OCEAN’). They are…
O - Openness to experience, C - conscientiousness, E - extroversion, A - agreeableness, N - neuroticism.
Trai theories can be problematic because…?
Our traits (ie. emotional, cognitive and behavioural tendencies) are not always consistent over time and in different situations.
True or false: Type theories are less predictable indicators of personality than other theories.
True
